Nevada
New champions could be coming as spring state week begins
The high school sports season is almost over.
All eight spring sports will crown state champions this week. Most of those title races remain wide open heading down the home stretch.
Here’s a breakdown of the state championship events:
Baseball
A new 5A champion will be crowned after the last two — Bishop Gorman and Basic — missed the playoffs. The 5A state tournament begins Thursday at Bishop Gorman.
Palo Verde and Coronado, who both finished second in their respective leagues, advanced to the state tournament. Palo Verde defeated Coronado on Friday for the Southern Region title to earn the South’s No. 1 seed. Coronado will be the South’s No. 2 seed.
Both teams are looking for their second baseball state titles. Palo Verde won the 4A title in 2018 and Coronado won it in 2013.
In 4A, Durango and Silverado face off in a winners’ bracket game Thursday at Faith Lutheran for a spot in Saturday’s title game.
Boys golf
Shadow Ridge, Coronado and Bishop Gorman are the three Southern teams that qualified for the 5A state tournament on Wednesday and Thursday in Pahrump.
Shadow Ridge won the Southern Region title by nine strokes with a team score of 6-over 574. Bishop Gorman won the 5A state title last year.
Doral Academy won the 4A state title Tuesday.
Boys volleyball
Boys volleyball begins the week of state-title action Tuesday. Sunrise Mountain will host the 5A (7 p.m.), 4A (5 p.m.) and 3A (3 p.m.) state-title matches.
Coronado and Palo Verde will play for the 5A state title. The teams split their two regular-season meetings, each winning in four sets.
Coronado won the Mountain League title on a tiebreaker and knocked out two-time defending champion Shadow Ridge in the semifinals Thursday. Palo Verde swept Desert League champion Green Valley in the other semifinal.
Bishop Gorman and Basic will meet for the 4A title. Two-time reigning champion Boulder City faces Virgin Valley for the 3A title.
Softball
Palo Verde and Coronado emerged out of the challenging Mountain League to advance to the state tournament, which begins Thursday at Bishop Gorman.
The Panthers won the Southern Region title Friday and will be the South’s No. 1 seed. Coronado will be the South’s No. 2 seed.
Palo Verde, which qualified for last year’s state tournament, is seeking its fourth softball state title. Coronado is looking for its first. Both teams will have to get through Northern champ and reigning state champion Douglas, which is 30-4 and has won 16 straight games.
The 4A state tournament continues Thursday at Faith Lutheran. Desert Oasis and Sierra Vista play in a winners’ bracket game Thursday for a spot in Saturday’s title game.
Swimming and diving
The state’s top swimmers and divers will meet in Las Vegas for the 5A, 4A and 3A state tournaments.
Divers will compete Friday at UNLV’s Buchanan Natatorium. 4A swimmers will race Thursday at Pavilion Center Pool, while 5A and 3A swimmers will compete Saturday.
The Palo Verde boys and Coronado girls are the reigning 5A champions entering the state meet.
Palo Verde, which has won the last nine boys titles, remains the favorite this year after winning the Southern Region title last week by 127 points over Bishop Gorman.
Coronado will have a tougher time defending the girls title. Palo Verde won the girls region title, edging Coronado 433.5-432.
The 4A state meet begins Thursday. The Sierra Vista boys and Tech girls won the 4A Desert Region titles, while the Basic boys and Doral Academy girls won the 4A Mountain Region titles. The Liberty boys and Faith Lutheran girls won the 4A state titles last year, but both moved up to 5A.
Track and field
The Centennial girls’ run of dominance in track and field came to an end last year when Liberty won the 5A girls title. That snapped the Bulldogs’ run of 10 championships in a row.
Centennial is back to being favorites this year. The Bulldogs ran away with the 5A girls Southern Region title Saturday, finishing 46 points head of Liberty. Shadow Ridge won the boys region title by 26 points over Liberty.
The state meet will take place Friday and Saturday in Carson City.
Desert Oasis will host the 4A state meet beginning Friday. The Mojave boys and Arbor View girls won the 4A Mountain Region titles. The Desert Oasis boys and girls won the Desert Region titles. The Shadow Ridge boys and Palo Verde girls are the reigning champions, but both moved up to 5A after offseason realignment.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
State championship schedule
Baseball
5A: Thursday-Saturday at Bishop Gorman and Faith Lutheran
4A: Thursday-Saturday at Bishop Gorman and Faith Lutheran
3A: Thursday-Saturday at Churchill County High School
2A: Thursday-Saturday at Durango High School
1A: Thursday-Saturday at Fernley High School
Boys golf
5A: Wednesday, Thursday at Mountain Falls Golf Club, Pahrump
3A: Tuesday, Wednesday at Mountain Falls Golf Club, Pahrump
2A: Tuesday, Wednesday at Ruby View Golf Course, Elko
Boys volleyball
At Sunrise Mountain
5A: 7 p.m. Tuesday
4A: 5 p.m. Tuesday
3A: 3 p.m. Tuesday
Softball
5A: Thursday-Saturday at Bishop Gorman and Faith Lutheran
4A: Thursday-Saturday at Bishop Gorman and Faith Lutheran
3A: Thursday-Saturday at Churchill County High School
2A: Thursday-Saturday at Durango High School
1A: Thursday-Saturday at Fernley High School
Swimming and diving
5A and 3A: Friday (Diving) at UNLV’s Buchanan Natatorium and Saturday (Swimming) at Pavilion Center Pool
4A: Thursday (Swimming) at Pavilion Center Pool and Friday (Diving) at UNLV’s Buchanan Natatorium
Track and field
Class 5A, 3A, 2A and 1A: Friday and Saturday at Carson City High School
Class 4A: Friday and Saturday at Desert Oasis High School
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Metro is investigating an incident involving an unruly crowd on the Las Vegas Strip.
Police say a large group gathered during a performance and began disrupting traffic near the 3600 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard.
Officers tried to take multiple people into custody.
During the response, an officer was hit by an item thrown by someone in the crowd, but was not hurt.
Police say eleven people were arrested.
Traffic in the area has returned back to normal.
Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.
Wolf Pack All Access is Nevada Sports Net’s exclusive 30-minute show covering Nevada athletics, airing from late August through late March. This week’s episode features highlights from Nevada men’s basketball at Utah State and Air Force, a spotlight on swim & dive head coach Brendon Bray, Nevada women’s basketball action at Grand Canyon and against Fresno State, a one-on-one interview with new Nevada soccer head coach Jeremy Evans, and more.
Segment One: Nevada men’s basketball highlights at Utah State and Air Force, plus postgame interviews with head coach Steve Alford.
Segment Two: Feature on swim & dive head coach Brendon Bray, followed by This Week in Wolf Pack History.
Segment Three: Nevada women’s basketball highlights at Grand Canyon and vs. Fresno State, with postgame interviews with Amanda Levens and Olivia Poulivaati, along with updates from Pack skiing, track & field, and tennis.
Segment Four: Five Questions with men’s basketball’s Elijah Price, plus a one-on-one interview with new Nevada soccer head coach Jeremy Evans.
Segment Five: News and notes from Nevada Athletics.
Watch this week’s edition of Wolf Pack All Access below.
Nevada
OPINION: Block of FAIR BET Act brings jeers from fans of gambling tax fairness – The Nevada Independent
The annual Super Bowl bacchanalia approaches, but American gamblers and casinos operators have already witnessed the misplay of the season with the congressional fumble of the commonsense FAIR BET Act.
Officially known as the Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation, the bill was introduced in July by Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) in an attempt to reverse a recent federal gambling tax policy change that reduced the amount of losses bettors could deduct from their taxes from 100 percent to 90 percent. Titus has rightly called the policy change a “tax increase on Americans who gamble.”
Titus’ bill amounted to a swift fix of a damaging mistake contained in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that threatens to hobble gamblers across the country with an unfair tax on winnings.
FAIR BET quickly picked up 23 co-sponsors and bipartisan support that included Nevada House members Reps. Steven Horsford (D), Susie Lee (D) and Mark Amodei (R). Clearly weighing the politics of the Trump era, the American Gaming Association (AGA) and many influential members of the industry were initially much slower to express strong opinions about the damaging impact the change would have on casino customers.
The vast American gambling community, however, has been lighting up social media for months expressing outrage over the approach of the unfair tax. Under the current provision, gamblers could break even for the year and still owe taxes on their winnings.
Titus pushed through the fall and the AGA and casino CEOs found their voices, but she was surprised as anyone that a bill that impacts so many states was snubbed by Republican-chaired committees. FAIR BET failed to be inserted as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.
In the new year, just about everyone is trying to recover this bouncing political football.
A House version of Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-NV) FULL HOUSE Act was introduced this week by Horsford and Ohio Rep. Max Miller (R). Officially the Facilitating Useful Loss Limitations to Help Our Unique Service Economy Act, it’s a mouthful that attempts to correct a law that Horsford says is “fundamentally unfair.” He adds in a statement, “This policy would drive tourism across our state elsewhere.” This bill also enjoys bipartisan support in both houses.
After Cortez Masto’s attempt to reverse the gambling provision failed, she told The Associated Press, “My understanding is many Republicans, many Democrats did not even know it was part of that process.”
With so much support, you’d think it would be game over. But not so fast.
By my count, there are three bills in the House and one in the Senate. All have bipartisan support. Titus’ bill is the simplest and contains just a few words, a veritable fortune cookie by congressional standards, but whatever bill gains steam, it will have to do so under Trump’s cloud of chaos in 2026.
“Everybody wants a piece of it now that it’s very popular, and gaming is on board and wants to fix it,” Titus says. “There are show horses and there are work horses. There are those who do the heavy lifting and those who come for the photo op. And you can figure out who’s who.
“I’ve said all along, I don’t care what vehicle we use, we just need to get it fixed.”
The gambling world is watching. Sports betting and casino industry websites continue to follow developments closely. They recognized the obvious hustle unfolding in Washington is more chaos, and chaos is bad for business. An NBC News story echoed the sentiment under a headline, “Bettors are worried Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ could cause professional gambling in the U.S. to fold.”
Overstated? Perhaps. But what amounts to a 10 percent tax on a break-even bankroll would bury plenty of gamblers — and not just the minnows or the poker players, as some gaming industry numbskull first suggested. It’s bad for them and worse for the state’s largest and most politically influential industry.
There’s still time left on the 2026 congressional clock, but the delay makes the Democrats look like they have a communications problem and the lone Republican like he needs to learn to raise his voice on behalf of his constituents. Say it ain’t so.
Now, about Amodei. He was chided for admitting he didn’t know of the existence of the change in the gambling tax code, but in fairness the amendment wasn’t in the House bill. It came from the Senate side. It was introduced by Idaho Republican Sen. Mike Crapo and was, at best, an ill-conceived attempt to raise revenue tucked inside a behemoth piece of legislation that is projected to cost the country more than $3.4 trillion.
At this point, maybe it’s time to set politics aside and remember the words popularly attributed to Vince Lombardi. When it comes to defeating this stinker of a tax, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”
John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in New Lines, Time, Reader’s Digest, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Reuters and Desert Companion, among others.
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